The Night Visitor
by Moonshadow1
Summary: JUST ADDED -- the epilogue. Not in the original version!
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Grace is my character, and so is Sophie, but as for the rest, I don't own them. I just have fun with them.  
  
******************************************  
  
Leaving Logan, like being with him, was harder than it looked. Not the part where Grace stayed up way too late at night, listening to sad music and crying. Not the part where every single thing she saw and heard, touched and tasted and smelled, reminded her of him. No, the loneliness of separation took on a whole new meaning when you weren't actually alone. When you were having your little breakdown before least two sets of watchful eyes.  
If she really was under surveillance by one or more Manticore factions, at least she had the satisfaction of picturing all those hardcore military types forced to spend hours listening to her sob and blow her nose. And while it was comforting to know that friends, too, watched over her, she sincerely hoped they were reporting only that she was safe and unharmed, and leaving out the parts about the kind of sappy music that made her bawl, and the way her face turned blotchy and red after a good long cry. Some nights, she turned out all the lights and sat in the dark. At least it was private.  
  
She felt more relaxed at the hospital, where security was currently tight. After two near-shootouts in the emergency department (gang-related), followed by an APB from the sector police for a female fugitive (in advanced pregnancy and possibly seeking medical attention), there were plenty of security guards and ID checks and spot searches that would be a nuisance for anyone trying to shadow her. Besides, it was easier not to think there. She kept herself very busy. And she stayed away from the courtyard.  
  
Nearly a month went by without disturbances in her apartment or office. The rather melodramatic scene outside of Logan's building on that last day had been meant to signal any and all observers that Grace was no longer part of his life, and apparently it had worked. If she was still on anyone's radar, there was no sign of it.  
  
By that time, the whole thing had actually begun to seem a little unreal, even silly. Not Logan's tragedy, of course. She didn't doubt the depth of his grief or the sincerity of his love. But the idea that somewhere, somehow, Max lived -- well, back under the cold fluorescent hospital lights where it had all started, she saw that idea for what it was. Wishful thinking. He needed more time to accept his loss, she saw now. Which was partly her fault. She, of all people, should have realized that it was possible to comfort someone too quickly, especially someone who had been through so much in such a short time. Give him six months, even a year -- whatever it took for him to truly come to terms with all of his losses. It stinks, she thought, especially for him. But it was the only way.  
  
If he could hang tough until then, she could too.  
  
So she assumed as she wearily climbed the stairs one evening after work. She no longer approached her own front door with keys in hand, poised to whirl and attack like those fierce self-defense women in late-night tv public service announcements. That night, her mind elsewhere, she found herself scrounging in her bag for her keys, yawning, longing for sleep.  
  
That night a hand clamped itself firmly over her mouth, a second hand pinned her arms to her sides, and a voice whispered in her ear, "Don't make a sound."  
  
In a weird way, she wasn't a bit surprised, except that she'd been expecting a man with a gun. But there was no gun, and the hands, the voice, and the body that pressed against her to hold her motionless were all unmistakably female. She could see nothing but the chipped, dirty paint of her front door, however, and when the voice hissed in her ear, "Unlock the door. Step inside. Got that?" Grace simply nodded. Her right arm was released. She found her keys, unlocked the door with a minimum of nervous fumbling, and more or less fell into the apartment thanks to a shove from her captor. The street lights illuminated the center of the room and Grace instinctively stepped aside, into shadow, then stood with her back to the door, hearing the sounds of the latch and the locks. Then, slowly, she turned, and such a shock went through her that her mouth actually fell open.  
  
It was Max.  
  
Her clothes were torn and stained, and the long hair, so glossy in the photograph on Logan's desk, was now dull and tangled, but there was no mistaking her. Amazement momentarily overwhelmed every other thought and feeling in Grace. Max was alive. Too stunned to speak, Grace watched her step back to the wall, away from the window and out of the sight lines of any observers. "Pull the shade," she ordered.  
  
Staying to one side, Grace quickly did so. The room fell dark and Grace, remembering all that Logan had told her about Max, began to feel a little afraid. She was uncomfortably aware that Max could corner her in the darkness as easily as a cat could trap its prey. Wide awake now, prickling with alarm, she said hoarsely, "Why are you here?"  
  
In answer, the lamp flicked on. Max watched her coldly. "Do you know who I am?" she asked.  
  
"Yes," Grace managed to say.  
  
"I know who you are too," Max replied, "but I won't hurt you, if that's what you're afraid of." So, Bling had been right. Max, alive. And well-informed. Oh, this was going to be messy.  
  
Max said, "I need help, and there's not much time. I need you to take me to the hospital."  
  
"Are you hurt?"  
  
"No. A friend needs help."  
  
"What kind of help?"  
  
Max stared at Grace. "She's having a baby. Now. I want supplies, whatever it takes to keep a newborn baby safe. Get me in, get me what I need and you're free to go."  
  
Grace shook her head. "That's not going to work."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"The hospital's on high security--"  
  
Max smiled confidently. "I don't worry about security."  
  
"How about arrest warrants?" The smile vanished. "Yup. There's a warrant out for the arrest of a female fugitive in advanced pregnancy. So, they're stopping people who sneak around with big bags of obstetric supplies."  
  
"Damn," Max said to herself. "I hoped they wouldn't look for her in Seattle." Frowning, she began to pace. She seemed to have forgotten Grace, who found herself wondering, Now how did that happen? A minute ago I was afraid she would wring my neck and now I'm warning her? I don't even know what's going on here. She cleared her throat. "Can we back this up for a minute? If you didn't know about the warrant, why didn't you just bring her in? Any emergency department in the city would have delivered her. These days, plenty of babies arrive that way."  
  
"She's not going anywhere near a hospital," Max said impatiently, still deep in thought.  
  
"Why?"  
  
Max said fiercely, "You don't have a clue how many people want to get their hands on this baby. Especially now. If they noticed anything unusual, they'd grab it in a heartbeat."  
  
"Okay, let that ride for a minute. Then why are you here? I hear you're good at breaking into just about anywhere, and stealing just about anything. Why involve me? Don't I just complicate things?" She stared at Max. This definitely didn't add up. She just couldn't quite figure out how.  
  
"Maybe I just wanted to meet the woman who helped Logan get over me," Max said rudely, turning her back on Grace.  
  
"All right, then, why not Logan, as long as we're bringing him into this?"  
  
Even without seeing her face Grace could tell how much it hurt Max to talk about him. It was in the way her shoulders slumped just a little, the way she shifted restlessly. But her voice did not soften. "He's not exactly inconspicuous, you know?"  
  
"There are other ways he could help. Maybe even find you a --" Comprehension suddenly dawned. "Oh, I get it! What were you going to do, use me as bait? Someone trustworthy to lure a doctor or nurse into a dark room, so you could grab them? Is that it?" Max said nothing and Grace went on, "Did it ever occur to you to just ask me? That maybe you could trust me?"  
  
The minute she said it she felt like an idiot. Max didn't let it slide, either. She sneered over her shoulder, "No. Surprise, huh?" then turned away again.   
  
Grace took a deep breath, ran her hands through her hair and said, "All right, that was stupid. Can we start over? Look, even if I did hate you -- which I don't -- what makes you think I would hurt Logan by hurting you? Believe it or not, I'm willing to listen to you. I might even be able to help. It's what I do, you know."  
  
"All right." Max turned. "That 'female fugitive' is actually my sister. She was safe in Mexico until she contacted the baby's father and they found out about it. Now she's on the run, and she needs help. Tonight. So -- let's see how you do what you do."  
  
Her sister! No wonder Max didn't want the girl anywhere near a hospital. Grace remembered enough of Logan's story to realize that after the destruction of the Manticore DNA lab, there would be an astronomical price on this baby's head. If Max said she needed help, she probably wasn't kidding around. Grace said, "I have a friend from the hospital, a nurse who is also a midwife. Sometimes she delivers babies outside the hospital, at the shantytowns and the encampments. She won't ask a lot of questions. All right?"  
  
Max hesitated, then nodded. "One condition. She knows nothing. I don't care what you tell her, as long as it isn't the truth."  
  
Grace immediately called Sophie, a West Indian woman who had come to the United States just weeks before the Pulse, planning to study for her M.D. The depression had changed all that, but Sophie had been more fortunate than most. Her nursing and midwifery skills had at least allowed her to earn a living and keep a roof over her head.  
  
Sophie was willing to help, but the wait for her to arrive was one of the most excruciating half-hours of Grace's life. Silently Max searched the apartment, tossing food and other supplies into her battered, filthy backpack, helping herself without permission. Grace closed her eyes and covered her face with her hands, wishing desperately that Max would go away for just five minutes, so she could quiet her racing head and pounding heart. It wasn't fear. This was not the first time she and Sophie had traveled out of the city at night to help someone too poor or frightened to use the hospital. And she was fairly sure now that Max wouldn't hurt her, at least not while she had help to offer. What was that phrase Logan had kept using? "Genetically-engineered." Max might be an angry, jealous, genetically-engineered romantic rival, but she was one with a mission. At least for the moment.  
  
No, what was making her head spin was the undeniable reality: Max lived. The woman who had died in Logan's arms was now standing before the open refrigerator, greedily gulping an entire carton of milk.   
  
As if reading her thoughts, Max said, "Aren't you even going to ask questions? Or is resurrection just business as usual for you religious types?" She set the empty carton down on the table and added, "Or maybe your mind's not on business right now. Maybe you're distracted by some ... personal issues."   
  
"Are you telling me I should put in a call to the Vatican or something?"  
  
Max laughed grimly. "No, the last thing I need is someone else after my ass. They're not too crazy about people like me."  
  
"So I can assume there's some reasonble, rational explanation for what you're doing here?"  
  
In answer, Max raised the hem of her shirt so that Grace could see the bottom of a long scar. Grace recognized that kind of scar; she'd seen it more than once at the hospital on open-heart surgery patients. The sight took her back to that first morning on the fifth floor of the hospital, recalled Logan's bruised face. Unexpectedly, sympathy filled her. Max's enemies were brutal. Dangerous. "I see," she said softly. Silently, Max dropped her shirt and turned back to the refrigerator.   
  
Still, there was mystery here. How, and why, had Bling and Logan believed that she might be alive? Had the strength of the bond they shared allowed them to sense her in some way, or had it simply been stubborn denial, a refusal to accept a painful truth? Even as Grace wondered, she became increasingly aware of her own aching heart. That crack about "personal issues" had been more perceptive than Grace wanted to admit. Painful truth -- she'd been deceiving herself. She had never really believed that Max could be alive, therefore she had never really believed in the finality of the choice she had made. Well, believe, she told herself bitterly. 'Cause you've now put your fingers in the nail holes.   
  
Abruptly Grace stood up. Time enough -- all the time in the world, really -- to sort that out later. Right now, she'd better prepare herself for a long night. A pair of jeans, a sweater, extra socks -- as she pulled out the clothes, she became aware that Max had followed her across the room. Grace watched, wondering whether she was planning to liberate anything else. At least her clothes were safe. Max was a good three inches taller than she was.  
  
Carelessly, Max pulled out one or two theology books, glanced at the covers, replaced them and said, "Hmmm. You're smarter than I thought you would be."  
  
"Because my books have lots of big words?" Grace asked, annoyed.  
  
Max raised her eyebrows. From the small table next to the bed she picked up another book, flipped through it, dropped it, and said, "So. What are you, some kind of a nun?"  
  
"Uh, no," said Grace, trying very hard not think about Logan, and failing. She turned red, and the amused curiosity on Max's face changed immediately to comprehension followed by outrage. Grace thought wildly about crawling under the bed, then caught herself. You didn't do anything wrong. She was dead, for heaven's sake. She stared straight back at Max with a bravery she didn't really feel. "Isn't that against your religion?" Max asked with cold fury, and Grace, without a good answer, wordlessly picked up her clothes and locked herself in the bathroom to change. She was wondering whether it was safe to come back out when she heard the blessed sound of Sophie's car horn out on the street. By the time she opened the door Max was already out in the hall.  
  
They left the building in silence.  
  



	2. Chapter 2

Nc2  
  
Sophie's car was an old beat-up mess, a typical piece of post-Pulse junk. It certainly wouldn't attract attention. Best of all, thanks to her medical clearance Sophie had a standing sector pass that would allow them unrestricted travel in and out of the city. On previous trips the sector police had more or less waved them through. But tonight might be different, Grace realized as she and Max climbed into the car, Max taking the front seat, staring grimly into the darkness as Grace introduced her to Sophie. Tonight the sector police were not likely to let medical personnel, especially not an obstetric nurse, pass without question. Grace assumed that her own identification would allow her through sector checkpoints with a minimum of hassle, but Max - well, Max was a problem. At least the heavy traffic would buy them a little time to come up with something.  
  
In the front seat Sophie, not the least bit intimidated by the tough-girl act, was questioning Max about her sister, whose name was Jace. How far along was she? When had labor started? Max seemed to be answering more or less helpfully, but Grace was beginning to regret her promise to keep quiet about who Max really was. There was no telling what strange things might happen to a genetically-altered woman in childbirth, and in an emergency, God forbid, Sophie would need to know what she was dealing with. Well, Grace decided, if it came to that, she would force the issue once they got wherever it was they were going.  
  
Eventually, Sophie and Max fell silent and Grace's attention drifted. For the first time that night, she could think past the next few moments, and she was realizing that she had no idea where this adventure was going to end up. Once the baby arrived, where would they go? How would they hide? In the back of her mind she had a vague idea that Logan would figure all that out. He was good at that sort of thing and of course once the emergency was over, Max would want to see him right away, wouldn't she?   
  
Grace looked over the seat at the dark head in front of her. She was grateful for the opportunity to watch Max without being inspected in return. Truthfully, she couldn't keep her eyes away. How many times had she admired -- and envied -- the beauty of the girl in the photograph? Well, "beautiful" didn't even begin to describe the real live Max. Grace had never known anyone so smart, so sure, so self-confident. She intimidated Grace, which was silly. The elite training Max had undergone as a child certainly showed in her brilliance, but the deprivations showed too. All those ignorant, annoying comments about "your religion," for one thing. Grace supposed spiritual development hadn't been a high priority at Manticore, and manners apparently hadn't been either. Of course, under the circumstances ...   
  
Grace suddenly realized that Sophie was speaking to her. "What?" she asked stupidly.  
  
Sophie's eyes met hers in the rearview mirror. "I said, what're we gonna do about the checkpoint? Only a few more blocks." Grace returned her thoughts to the business at hand.   
  
In the end, it was Max's scruffy appearance that inspired them. When they approached the checkpoint, she was sprawled in the back seat, head lolling. The cop stuck his head in the rear passenger window, then pulled it back out again quickly as the odor of cheap wine hit him in the face. Annoyed, he moved to the driver's window, where Sophie and Grace next to her were doing their best to look self-righteous and disapproving. The cop jerked his head in the direction of the back seat, and said, "Who's your friend?"  
  
Sophie primly handed over her pass, along with their identification, Grace's first to reinforce the impression they were trying to create. "Some drunk," she sniffed to the cop. "The hospital won't keep her and neither will the city police. We're taking her back where she belongs."  
  
"Why you?" asked the cop, mildly suspicious.  
  
"We volunteered," Grace told him earnestly. "It's an opportunity for us to preach the gospel to those poor lost souls at the encampment."  
  
"It's the Lord's work," Sophie added piously.   
  
The cop took a last look in the back seat, where Max had begun to roll her head back and forth and moan theatrically. "Oh dear, I hope she doesn't vomit in the car," Sophie said to Grace, and at that, the cop hastily pulled his head back and waved them on. As soon as the checkpoint was out of sight Max sat up and spat in disgust out of the side window, glaring at Grace. "Nice rotgut," she snapped, reaching down to the floor and picking up the now-empty wine bottle which they had borrowed from a passed-out roadside drunk.  
  
"I didn't ask you to drink it, I asked you to put some in your mouth. Besides, it worked, didn't it?"  
  
"Pull over," Max ordered Sophie.  
  
"Why?"  
  
"Pull over," Max repeated, and with a skeptical glance Sophie pulled onto the shoulder, where the ancient car idled loudly. Max leaned over the front seat. "Out," she commanded Grace.  
  
Grace eyed the wine bottle in Max's hand. "What are you going to, whack me and leave me by the road?" The attitude must be getting on her nerves, she decided. It wasn't like her to be this snippy.  
  
"Don't think I haven't considered it," Max began, but Sophie interrupted. "Do I need to separate you two?" she asked ominously, and after a moment Max opened the rear door. "Please get out," she said sweetly, with a dark look at Sophie. "I need to navigate." Grace heard the sound of the wine bottle hitting the roadside gravel as they switched seats. Well, better that than her head. With a last warning look, Sophie pulled back out on the highway and they traveled on in silence, deeper into the mountains.  
  
At last, Max directed Sophie to turn up a nearly invisible dirt road that was little more than a rough path up the side of a steep hill. The car bounced and jolted until Grace was sure the bottom would tear out. Finally Max pointed to a patch of scrubby bushes and Sophie maneuvered the car behind them. After they got out Max circled the bushes critically, checking for telltale glints of chrome or other visible signs of the car. When she was satisfied that the car was completely concealed, she pointed up the mountain. "This way."  
  
It was a long, breathless hike up the mountain to the cave where Jace waited for them, standing with hands on hips, grimacing in pain. Max rushed to her, but stood respectfully away as Sophie quickly examined Jace, then patted her shoulder. "You're doing great. Just hang in there," Sophie reassured Jace.  
  
"How long?" Max asked.  
  
"It'll be a few more hours. Can you stand it?" Sophie asked Jace.  
  
"Yes," said Jace firmly. "My back aches. But I'll deal with it."  
  
"What can we do?" Grace asked.  
  
"You can wait," Sophie said cheerfully, beginning to unpack her supplies.  
  
Max had been roaming the cave, appraising their surroundings. Now she jerked her head towards the mouth of the cave. "You're gonna help me keep watch," she commanded Grace, who obediently followed her. Why not? she thought. Maybe it would bring the tension down a notch or two.  
  
"I'm really thirsty. Think you could find some water, little sister?" Jace called after them.  
  
"No problem," Max smiled back. The bag of supplies lay near the mouth of the cave. Max rummaged through it and handed a bottle of water to Sophie, then turned her attention to Grace. "You take the first watch. Don't fall asleep," she added rudely, turning to go.  
  
"Just a second. I need to speak to you privately," Grace said quietly.  
  
Clearly irritated, Max stepped outside. Not used to having her orders questioned, Grace thought. So much for easing the tension. And this would make it worse. "I'm thinking maybe you should give Sophie a little of the medical background," she began.  
  
"That's need-to-know information. I'll tell her if there's a good reason."  
  
Grace sighed. "Max, have you ever been around when someone had a baby?"  
  
"No."  
  
"Well, I have," Grace told her. "Most of the time it goes just fine. But when something goes, wrong, it goes wrong fast, and the person delivering the baby really, really needs to know exactly what they're dealing with."  
  
"You promised. Isn't keeping your word part of your job description or something?"  
  
"All right." Grace backed down reluctantly. "But if something goes wrong, and you don't tell her, I will."  
  
At that, Max threw a look of pure disgust at Grace and stalked back into the cave, leaving Grace to sit alone in the cold darkness until Sophie called her back inside.   
  
With Grace's kitchen matches, they had lit a small fire, which provided more illumination than warmth. Grace immediately saw that Jace's labor was quite quite a bit further along. She now seemed oblivious to the cave, the cold, the two strange women. Max was rubbing her back. When Grace entered Sophie stood up, stretched, and sipped some water. "Not long now before we get real serious," she said, pulling Grace aside. "How well do you know these girls?" she asked quietly.  
  
"Not very well. Max is ... a friend of a friend." Grace's heart suddenly sank. "Is there a problem?"  
  
Sophie shook her head. "No. In fact, this is one strong girl. Her labor's advancing very quickly, but as far as I can tell it's not putting much of a strain on her or the baby. Is she some kind of athlete or soldier?"  
  
"I think she's had some military training."   
  
"Well, it shows." There was a pause, then: "Do you mind if I ask you something?"  
  
"Sure."  
  
"What's your issue with this Max? You sure are up each other's backsides."  
  
"Long story. I'll tell you another time."  
  
Sophie closed the water bottle and returned to Jace, signaling Max to take a rest. As she did so, her sleeve fell back, revealing an intricate dark green tattoo around her left wrist and arm. Grace had seen it so many times before she didn't give it a second thought, but it caught Max's attention. "Nice tattoo," she said admiringly.  
  
"Thank you," said Sophie, and held her arm out to Max.  
  
"What's it for?"  
  
Sophie smiled. "I belong to a ... religious sisterhood. We all wear these."  
  
Max looked sharply at Grace. "Don't tell me you're part of this ... sisterhood too." Something about her tone made it sound silly and childish.   
  
"I join them sometimes," Grace said defensively, thinking, Now why did I tell her that? It's none of her business.   
  
Max gave her a look of disbelief. "What kind of religion do you belong to anyway? Sisterhoods? Love affairs? Sounds too weird for me."  
  
"MY life is too weird for YOU?" Grace began incredulously, but Sophie silenced them with a sharp glance and a nod at Jace, who was beginning to moan. "Take this outside and settle it now, because soon we're going to have work to do," she commanded, pointing to the mouth of the cave. "And make it quick," she called after them.   
  
Outdoors, the air was still and cold. It was too early for moonlight, but stars glittered here and there between the trees. The two women stood side by side. Max said,  
  
"I thought you were going to tell on us as soon as you got the chance."  
  
"She's fine right now. Doesn't mean I won't do it later." After a moment: "Anyway, that's not what this is really about. What do you want to know? Ask."  
  
"Are you in love with him?"  
  
"I don't know. It wasn't very long," Grace said honestly. At that Max folded her arms, and huddling against the cold continued, "Is he in love with you?"  
  
"He never said." That was the truth, or part of it, anyway.  
  
"Why did it end?"  
  
"He believes you may be alive. I left him, and he didn't try to stop me."  
  
"It was very noble of you to get yourself out of the way." At this, Grace opened her mouth angrily, then saw that Max relatively sincere. She said more gently:  
  
"I said, he didn't try to stop me. I wasn't being noble. I was just trying to deal with the reality of the situation."  
  
"Which is?"  
  
Grace felt her throat tighten, but managed to say, "He loves you. What do you think I was going to do, hang around and beg him to choose me instead? That's not what I'm about." She looked down at the ground, hoping Max wouldn't see the tears spilling onto her cheeks. She was angry with herself. This was not the time to start falling apart, so she changed the subject. "You haven't even asked how he is."  
  
"I know how he is," Max said softly. So she's been watching him, Grace thought, wondering again why Max hadn't simply gone to him for help. Then the sound of vomiting came from the cave, and Max hurried away in alarm. Wiping her nose on her sleeve since nothing else was handy, Grace followed. "What's wrong? Is she all right?" Max was demanding anxiously.  
  
Sophie eased Jace back into a sitting position, smiling. "Nothing's wrong. We're just getting very, very close to showtime. Ladies, think you can stop fighting long enough to boil some water?"  
  
Relieved to have work, they heated water, warmed a blanket, put a cool cloth on Jace's forehead. Before long, Jace cried out that she wanted to push and Sophie took her hand. "You just hang on to me and go," she said confidently. A moment later, however, it was Sophie who cried out at the fierce pressure of Jace's grip. Grace shot Max a warning look and Max hastily reached out, saying, "I've got you, sister." Jace closed her eyes and held on to Max, hard.  
  
Sophie rocked back on her heels, shaking out her hand. "Damn," she told Grace. "I've met some strong women in my time but this girl's got them all beat."   
  
"Sorry," whispered Jace with a little smile, then cried out again, much louder this time. Max looked over her shoulder several times and belatedly Grace realized that the cave was unguarded, even as they were at their most vulnerable. Jace could not run if they were discovered now. "I'll watch," Grace told Max, and for once Max, absorbed in her sister, simply nodded in agreement.  
  
So at the entrance Grace kept watch, hearing Jace's cries and Sophie's words of encouragement, and a last, a baby's wail. Immediately two voices asked, "Is it all right?" Then there was a heart-stopping silence until Sophie declared, "She is just fine. A big strong girl like her mother."  
  
"It's a girl," Max laughed. "Jace, you have a little girl!"   
  
The dark woods were still and silent, so Grace risked a look over her shoulder to the firelit cave. Max and Jace were laughing and crying at the same time as Sophie placed the baby in her mother's arms. Jace, face shining, whispered, "Max - meet Max."  
  
Max was watching the baby, her face transformed with pleasure. The bitterness and exhaustion dropped away for a moment, revealing a lovely, happy, excited girl. Then Max grew serious and determined again. Holding one of the baby's tiny hands, embracing her sister, she looked into Jace's eyes. "I promise you," she said softly, "we'll do whatever we have to do to give her a better life than we had." Tears spilled from Jace's eyes and splashed shining in the firelight onto the baby's face. Seeing this, Sophie took charge. "Time to rest now," she told Jace authoritatively. Max hugged her sister again, then, suddenly seeming to realize that they could do nothing for the time being, wandered to the entrance of the cave. Grace quickly turned away, hoping Max hadn't seen her watching.  
  
To her surprise Max sat down next to her. "I told you it would go all right," she said cheerfully.   
  
"I'm glad it did. Congratulations," Grace said.  
  
After a while, Max said, "Look, I gotta ask you. Why did you do this?"  
  
Grace was astonished. "Did I miss something here? Did you actually give me a choice?"  
  
Max shrugged. "You didn't have to go all out like this. You could have given me a hard time."  
  
"I told you. I care about Logan, and he cares about you."  
  
"I'm on the run from a government agency. You get caught doing this, you're gonna have plenty of time to read those big-word theology books. That is, if they even let you have them." Max stared hard at Grace. "That's a pretty big risk to take for a guy who let you walk out the door."  
  
Grace ran her fingers through the pine needles that carpeted the ground. She wasn't sure she wanted to continue this conversation, or rather, interrogation. Max was relentless. And smart. Grace didn't owe her any explanations, but on the other hand she didn't have anything to hide either. So ...  
  
"Logan told me your story. Eventually," she added dryly, remembering how long he had held Max's secrets in his heart. "Anyway, it reminded me of this doctor at the hospital. Famous fertility guy. He's the man, if you can afford him.   
  
"One night I rode out to the encampments with Sophie to deliver a baby. Someone else showed up -- this doctor, and he'd brought company. A husband and wife. They hung around for a while, but something seemed to be wrong. They were arguing with each other and arguing with the doctor. Finally, they left, and he left right afterwards. He looked really angry.  
  
"I found out later that his practice was a little more diversified than I knew. He was also arranging adoptions on the side. For the folks who couldn't afford any better, he was trolling the camps for young single girls in trouble, or families with too many kids. No genetic screening or prenatal care, but cheap and available.  
  
"But for the people with money, he was going out to the camps and soliciting girls for genetic testing. Not just to weed out the bad stuff, but to select for the good stuff. The custom stuff that his clients wanted. The girls had nice places to live, good food, the best medical care. Sometimes he just bought their eggs and sent them on their way. A few of them actually carried the babies for women who couldn't, or didn't want to.  
  
"So, the couple that Sophie and I saw that night. She couldn't carry a baby to term; they'd tried, but she had just lost another one, and she was a wreck. So he offered to get them a baby right away, that night. Only when they arrived, the husband didn't think the girl looked healthy enough and smart enough to be the biological parent of his child. He refused it.  
  
"I never found out what happened to them. But the good doctor is still in business to this day."   
  
"Figures you'd have a problem with genetic engineering." Max sounded defensive. "Isn't that the official position of the Church? They get to play God, but no one else does?"  
  
"First, not my church. Second, I work at a hospital. Every day I see the reasons for trying it." Grace said. "What I have a problem with is seeing these kids exploited to turbo-charge some adult's power trip. With playing God when you think of God as some kind of supreme control freak. I know it's strictly amateur hour compared to where you've been. But, you asked." She rose, brushing leaves and pine needles from her jeans, suddenly feeling shy. "Anyway. End of sermon." Her hands were cold. She rubbed them together, watching the stars through the trees.  
  
There was silence. After a while, Max asked, "Do you ever talk to any of the mothers, the ones that give up their babies?" Something about her question reminded Grace of the afternoon in the hospital courtyard when Logan had asked her about her conversations with the dying.   
  
"Once in a while. Most of them don't really look back. Some don't care. The rest truly believe they're doing the right thing for the baby, so they just want to get it over with, and get out. Talking about it is the last thing they're up for."   
  
"How about the parents?"  
  
"No. They're thrilled. People don't usually come looking for me to spill their guts about how thrilled they are."  
  
There was a longer silence, and then Max said, "Sometimes, Jace talks about giving up the baby. Find a family. Smart, rich, loving. Give her what we never can."  
  
Grace was speechless for a moment. Finally she said, "What do you think?"  
  
"Believe me, I can think of a lot better things for a kid to do than play escape and evade all day. So. If she needed you, could you help her find the right people?"  
  
"I could try. If that's what she really wanted."  
  
Max said abruptly, "I'm starting to see why you two hit it off so well." It took Grace a moment to realize that she was no longer speaking of Jace.   
  
Max rose and turned back towards the cave in one quick movement. "Go to sleep. We're moving out before dawn." And then she was gone. After a moment Grace followed her into the firelight.  
  



	3. Chapter 3

  
Max told the others she would keep watch overnight, since she didn't sleep, but shortly after moonrise she woke Grace to take her place for an hour. She needed to rest for a just a little while, she whispered. Stiff and sleepy, Grace seated herself in the shadows at the entrance while Max lay down near Jace. The full moon was beginning to light the woods, but the fire had long since burned out and in the darkness Grace could see only dim outlines of the sleeping women.  
  
After a while she realized that she needed to pee. At first she tried to ignore it. She was sure Max knew some top-secret military technique for holding it in when you were out in the field, and she didn't want to look like a pathetic amateur if she could help it. But eventually she couldn't.  
  
Shivering, she risked a quick trip into the bushes. It was not until she was nearly back inside the cave that she heard the sound of someone -- or something -- approaching. Keeping an eye on the entrance, she hurried to Max and touched her shoulder. Even in her alarm Grace could not help admiring the way Max's eyes opened instantly, the way she came fully alert in a second. Leaning over, Grace whispered into her ear, "Someone's coming." She pointed to the mouth of the cave.  
  
Max nodded, held a finger to her lips, moved silently as a cat to the entrance. In a moment she looked back at Grace with a quick nod. She pointed left, then held up a hand palm up. Not clear how many of them, approaching from the west. Again Max held her finger to her lips, then pointed first to herself and then outside, waving a hand forward to indicate that she would draw the visitors away. Before Grace could respond the baby began to whimper and in the darkness Jace stirred. Grace, still in the shadows, quietly warned Jace, who picked up the baby and soothed her while scanning the entrance with eyes every bit as alert as Max's. After a few moments, Max moved back until she was next to Jace. The two women exchanged glances, seeming to communicate wordlessly. Jace shook her head, No. Max leaned over and whispered to Grace: "Take the baby. Jace and I will draw them away."  
  
But it was too late. Footsteps crunched loudly on the leaves and underbrush outside. Frantically Grace waved towards the back of the cave. After a moment's hesitation Max and Jace, holding the baby, stepped back into the darkness. Grace felt a breath of air brush her cheek as they moved silently past her. Quickly Grace woke Sophie, finger to her lips to signal caution. Then the cave darkened as the figures of two armed men filled the entrance. One shouted, "Who's here?"   
  
There was a click and the beam of a high-intensity flashlight swept across the cave, blinding Grace and Sophie. Grace shielded her eyes with a hand, then called back in a fearful voice that was not entirely feigned, "Hello? Who are you? Help?" The two men approached and Grace scrambled up from the ground. As she expected, they raised their guns and Grace froze, allowing herself to look every bit as desperate as she felt. "Don't shoot! Please!" she begged as the white light swept over them.  
  
"Two women, no baby," one of them said into a transmitter, then said to Grace, "Who are you? What are you doing here?"  
  
Two women, no baby. These men were looking for them, or rather for Max and Jace. Desperately hoping she was right, Grace pointed to the entrance. "They were here -- they forced us -- we're nurses, they said there was an emergency -- can you help us --" That was the ticket, confused and vague, get them out as quickly as possible before the baby cried.   
  
"Did you deliver a baby?" asked the transmitter man.  
  
"No!" Grace gasped. "She'd already given birth by the time we got here -- they left us here -- we're freezing -- please, take us back --"  
  
"Which way did they go? How long ago did they leave?" demanded the flashlight man.  
  
"They ran when they heard you coming -- I don't know where they went, they told us not to look --"  
  
"Sit," commanded the first man, then spoke into the transmitter: "Two females, say they were abducted by the pregnant female and her friend. They say the subjects have escaped into the woods ... Should be easy to catch, they're probably not traveling very fast, subject 1 has apparently given birth ... No sir, I won't underestimate them." Then, to Grace and Sophie: "Stay here. We'll send someone back for you later." A moment later they were gone. Grace could hear them moving away through the underbrush.   
  
For a long time, the four women sat motionless and silent. Miraculously, the baby seemed to be sleeping. Finally, Max moved out of the blackness, checked the entrance, and signaled all clear. Jace slid gratefully to the floor, Sophie took the baby, and Grace dropped her head between her knees. I hope I'm not going to throw up like I did at Logan's, she thought. Only Max remained standing. She said:  
  
"We have to move, now. They'll back eventually, when they realize there's a lot more you can tell them."  
  
On the hike back to the car they moved cautiously, Max scouting ahead and then allowing the others to catch up . When they reached the place where the car was hidden, Max signaled Sophie and Jace to wait while she observed the road. Grace followed her out of Sophie's earshot and said, "Can I ask you something?"  
  
"What?" asked Max, eyes scanning the darkness.  
  
"Who do you think that was, back there? I mean, don't you think it's strange that there were only two men? I don't know much about this stuff, but -- what kind of military operation sends just two men on a hunt like that?"  
  
"Yeah. I don't think it was the alumni committee back at Manticore."  
  
"Then who?"  
  
Max shook her head. "It doesn't matter, does it? They knew who we were."  
  
Grace said, "Before I -- I mean, a few weeks ago, someone was following me." She quickly described the incidents at her office and apartment. But again Max shook her head. "Too subtle for Manticore," she said. "Did ... have you heard the name Donald Lydecker?"   
  
"Yes."  
  
"Did ... has he been heard from since ..." It wasn't like Max to be so inarticulate, Grace thought, but she knew why. Max didn't want to say Logan's name. She knew that because she didn't want to say it either.  
  
"No. Everyone from that night vanished."  
  
Max frowned. "Doesn't make sense," she said thoughtfully, then added: "Besides, the person who went through your office was me."  
  
Grace was not really surprised to hear that, but somehow it made her feel uneasy. There were implications she didn't have time to think through at the moment. And she wanted some answers from Max. She said, "I don't get it. Why did you take this risk? It was not necessary."  
  
"They told me a lot of things in ... there. Not all of them were true. I wanted to know if this one was."  
  
That was not what Grace had meant, but again, she felt that uneasiness. "They"? So Logan had been right. She had been watched. For the first time that night she felt afraid. Max went on:  
  
"I wasn't going to stay here. Then I got the call from Jace. I wanted to head for Canada but she couldn't make it any farther."  
  
The sound of an approaching vehicle and the sweep of headlights silenced both women. It was just an ordinary car, however, and it vanished around a curve in the road, red taillights winking out. Grace said:  
  
"I get why you came back to Seattle. That wasn't what I meant. I want to know why you came to me tonight."  
  
"Jace needed help," said Max impatiently, as if Grace were very stupid.  
  
"My help?" Grace asked sharply. "You said yourself I could have given you a hard time. That's a pretty big risk to take with the gal who stole your man."  
  
Max didn't flinch. "Makes what I have to do easier," she said, eyes on the road.  
  
"Which is?"  
  
"When I get Jace where she's going, I'm not coming back. Maybe not ever."  
  
"Why not?"  
  
"This is a lot more complicated than I have time to explain now. It's better this way." She scanned the road in all directions, listening. "I have to get Jace and the baby out of here. Tonight. I want you to drop us off a few miles down the road. We'll head to Canada from there."  
  
"On foot?" Grace asked incredulously. "Max, she just had a baby a few hours ago ..."  
  
"Manticore is hunting us. That's a given. So far I think we're off their radar, but now we've got someone else crashing the party. Doesn't matter who. Jace and the baby have to be as far away from here, and from me, as possible. I'll do whatever it takes to keep them away from her. Anything," Max added bitterly, more to herself than Grace. "I won't screw up this time. I promise.'   
  
"So ... what do you want me to tell Logan?" There, she'd said it.  
  
"Nothing. Don't tell him anything."  
  
"Are you serious? You're alive and it's just going to slip my mind? 'Oh, did I mention that I ran into Max the other night?'"  
  
"You seem to be a pretty good liar. You've been faking people out all night. You'll handle it."  
  
"Have you listened to anything I've said? He thinks you're alive. That's all he cares about."  
  
Now it was Max's face that shone with tears in the moonlight. "It's time to go. I've waited too long already." Before Grace could say anything else, Max was climbing back up the hill towards the hidden car.   
  
Sophie objected loud and clear to the idea of Jace and the baby going anywhere that night. But when she saw Max couldn't be dissuaded, she insisted on giving her a quick course in post-natal care and rigged up a baby carrier from a blanket, resting it over Jace's shoulder so that the weight was easier to carry and the baby was snuggled warmly against her mother. Then, with a last disapproving look, she drove until Max signaled her to stop. A rough trail leading away from the highway was barely discernible in the headlights. Jace hugged Sophie and Grace, thanked them, then climbed out and disappeared into the woods. Max turned to follow, but Grace caught her arm.  
  
"You can't just go like this. Give me something, anything to tell him."  
  
"Let him believe I'm dead. It's better that way. Just take care of him." And before Grace could say another word, Max ran into the woods. In a heartbeat she was gone, leaving only the night silence in her wake. For a wild minute Grace considered running after her. But they were in a cold, dark, lonely place miles from civilization, Sophie waited in the car, and there wasn't a snowball's chance anyway that Grace could ever catch Max if she didn't want to be caught. Defeated, she climbed back into the car, her face turned stubbornly away the still, dark woods.  



	4. Chapter 4

  
After a few miles, when her heart was no longer pounding quite so hard, Grace belatedly remembered her manners. Sophie had worked hard that night; the least Grace could do was take a turn driving. But when she offered, Sophie laughed. "I'm a lot more used to staying up all night than you are," she told Grace merrily. "If you don't mind, I think I'll feel safer driving myself. You sleep." Grace thought sleep was impossible, but she no longer had the energy to stay angry, and the steady sound of the car engine soon lulled her. It seemed like only a few moments before they were back in Seattle, pulling up in front of Grace's building. In a daze Grace climbed the stairs, unlocked the door, flopped on her bed, and immediately went back to sleep.  
  
The next thing she knew, it was afternoon, sunlight streamed in the window, and she realized with alarm that she had to hurry, that she needed to speak to Logan and she was very, very late. She rushed out of the apartment without changing her clothes, catching the familiar crosstown bus, getting off at her usual stop, turning the corner to the welcome sight of his building. She rode the elevator to his floor with happy anticipation, rang the bell, and smiled with pleasure as he opened the door. Oh, it had been too long! She had something important to tell him, but somehow she couldn't get him to pay attention to what she was saying. There were a lot of people in the apartment for some reason. How strange to see a crowd in that place, which had always been so still and silent, almost lonely. At one point Grace realized that everyone else was beautifully dressed, and there she was in the dirty jeans she'd been wearing all night, though no one seemed to care. Then people began to gather in front of her, Logan was at her side, and a man she had never seen before raised a crystal wineglass in a toast. "My friends," he said, smiling, "someone once said that to love is to receive a glimpse of heaven. Here's to a little piece of heaven on earth." There were more smiles and applause and Grace felt her heart fill with pleasure as she and Logan took each other's hands. What had she meant to tell him? It didn't matter any more. They were together, side by side. The man who had given the toast was across the room now, still smiling at her. Then he stepped aside, and behind him Grace saw a table. A shaft of sunlight illuminated plates of food and crystal glasses that sparked with rainbows, and oddly, a carton of milk. A carton of milk? Something about it bothered Grace. She began to walk towards it, realizing that she must have let go of Logan's hand. There was something wrong about that carton. She had to find out. Suddenly the sunlight went out, leaving Grace in darkness. Carefully she turned her head, and felt the roughness of her sweater under her cheek. Oh, she realized, I've been dreaming. Where the heck am I?  
  
She was at home. It was afternoon, but the shade was down, darkening the room. Disoriented, Grace stood up, still half-believing that she had just let go of Logan's hand, still feeling the pleasure of his presence. She was thirsty. Clumsily she moved over to the refrigerator, opened it, sighed when she saw that it was nearly empty. As she stepped back to close the door, the light fell on the empty milk carton on her table, and in an instant Grace remembered everything. Oh no. Max. That was what she had tried to tell Logan. That Max was alive. The warm, sweet remnants of the dream evaporated instantly and Grace slid to the floor. At that moment she would have given just about anything to wipe the last twenty-four hours out of her memory forever. Instead she sat on her floor facing one of the hardest decisions she had ever had to make.  
  
After a little while she drank some water from the faucet, found an old packet of stale crackers Max had somehow overlooked, and ate a few. Then, unable to bear the dark silent apartment a moment longer, she quietly slipped out into the raw cold afternoon. If anyone cared enough about what she was doing to follow her, there was no sign of it. She was nearly alone.  
  
She had not been to the waterfront since the last time she had taken Logan there, but now she craved the solitude and the smell of the salt water. The fence was still loose, and the place was still deserted. She walked the old promenade for a long time, and then when she was too tired to walk any more, sat down with her back against the fence.  
  
There was no doubt in her mind that Logan would want to know the truth. In spite of her own feelings she had to smile, imagining the joy and amazement on his face if she told him. She would love to give him that pleasure. What did it matter now? Their relationship was effectively over anyway. Max was a brilliant strategist. She had Grace either way. Tell him, and end it on the spot, or don't tell him, and live with a ticking bomb.   
  
Of those two unpleasant choices, Grace preferred the first. She had no desire to deceive Logan, even passively. But her own eagerness to hurry home, to pick up the phone, to just get the whole thing over with -- well, it worried her. She didn't want to let her feelings, good or bad, lead her into doing even more harm than Max's enemies had already caused.   
  
What were Max's real intentions? Did she really mean it when she said that she might never come back? Did she truly believe that Logan would be better off without her? If she did, and if she sincerely meant never to be found, then telling Logan would be cruel. He would do anything to find her, right up until the day he died if necessary. And knowing Max, that's what it would take.   
  
Even more disturbing than the thought of Logan spending a lifetime searching and wondering was the fear that in his quest for Max, he would unintentionally put her in even greater danger. That in becoming one of the pursuers, he would also become one of the pursued. Anyone smart enough to understand how relentlessly his love for Max would drive him could ride along in his wake, allowing him to lead the way to her. Grace remembered the long scar on Max's stomach clearly. Max, Logan, Max's sister, that newborn baby ... she wanted to protect them, not expose them to greater danger.  
  
Still, in keeping Max a secret from her enemies, she was also keeping Max a secret from her friends. Max and Jace were alone. Their enemies were powerful. To withhold any help might mean the difference between freedom and imprisonment, or even life and death.   
  
In the end, it all came back to that single question Grace had asked the night before: "I want to know why you came to me tonight." She was not satisfied with the answer Max had given her. An elite soldier like Max simply didn't take the unnecessary risk of revealing her identity to someone who had every reason to betray her ... unless that soldier, or some part of her, had ulterior motives. In some way, Grace believed, Max had wanted the truth available to Logan, no matter what kind of crap she'd talked about what was best for him or Grace taking care of him. And if there was a chance that Logan could help Max fight -- well, Grace held that chance in her hands.   
  
At last, feeling as cold as she had been on the mountain in the night, Grace rose from her corner and went home. She had decided. She was going to make that call.   
  
To her annoyance, she could hear her telephone ringing as she tried to unlock her door with stiff fingers. By the time she got inside, it had stopped. She was in the bathroom washing some of the night's grime from her face and hands when it began to ring again. Soapy and wet, she grabbed the receiver, expecting the hospital. When she heard Logan's voice, she was so startled she dropped the phone. "Sorry," she apologized over her pounding heart. It was like a message, she thought. Just in case she was tempted by second thoughts.  
  
Logan's voice reminded her of the night of the break-in at her apartment -- or rather, the night Max had broken in, she reminded herself grimly. He was courteous, but all business. "Something has come up," he told her. "Say no if you want to, but I'm with someone who would like to meet you. If I send a ride for you, think you could join us?" That put Grace on her guard immediately. Since when had Logan started trying to sound like a guy rounding up his friends for a beer at the corner bar? Was the phone line tapped or something? It must be important. She said yes and hurried downstairs, hoping she hadn't misunderstood "what send a ride" meant.  
  
She hadn't. In just a few minutes Bling pulled up. The welcome sight of him and his warm hug filled Grace's eyes with tears, which he tactfully pretended not to notice. Both of them were silent on the ride across town. Whatever this was, it was clearly not something to discuss casually in the car.   
  
After a while Grace saw that they had circled through town and headed back out near the waterfront, in an old industrial section of the city that was now mostly abandoned warehouses and rotting piers. Bling pulled up in front of the cargo entrance of one building, looked around cautiously, then said, "Just go on in there, straight through. You'll see him."  
  
"Aren't you coming?" Grace asked with a sinking heart. She didn't want to do this alone.  
  
"I'm on watch out here. You go on."  
  
On watch. Yeah, she knew all about that now. Reluctantly she left the car, moving uneasily through the dark warehouse toward a dim pool of light at the rear. As she came closer she saw Logan, dressed in black, standing next to a stack of old crates. To his left stood an older man, also dressed in black, with blond hair. They turned at the sound of her footsteps.  
  
Logan wasted not a second. "Grace. This is Donald Lydecker." He glanced at the blond man. "I believe you know Grace Guerin. Or know of her."  
  
"Hello," Grace said. She was amazed at the calm sound of her own voice, because inside she was near panic. The unfamiliar sight of Logan standing and the name Lydecker made her wonder if she was dreaming again. She felt like the word Max was written all over her for them to see. Her knees began to shake.  
  
"Hello," Lydecker said briskly. "I'll get right to the point. I'm looking for an X5 and I believe you can help me."  
  
Grace went cold. He knows where I was last night, she thought. Well, I'm not going to make this easy for him. Not until I understand this a little better. She said nothing.  
  
"Coloner Lydecker has had us ... under observation for about two months now," Logan said. Was it her imagination, or were his eyes warning her? I can keep my mouth shut, she thought. Max is a good teacher. And so are you.  
  
Lydecker said, "I have reason to believe that the woman you would call Jace is in or near Seattle. Last night my people were on her trail, but we lost her." Relief swept over Grace. He didn't know!  
  
"What does this have to do with me?" she asked, trying to match Logan's noncomittal tone.  
  
"My men found two women last night who said they were nurses. Said they'd been kidnapped. You work at the city's major hospital. Have you heard anything about this?"  
  
"I'm sorry, I had a day off today," Grace said. "I don't talk to work people on my day off." She tried to look helpful. "I'm back at work tomorrow" -- with a pointed look at her watch -- "I'll be glad to ask around." Why not? she thought. I already know the answer.   
  
"I'd appreciate it," Lydecker replied. A sound from the front of the warehouse made them all turn, alert, to see Bling beckoning to Logan. "Speak to you for a moment?" he said quietly. Logan said, "Excuse me," to Grace and Lydecker, then walked away. The sight unsettled Grace. It wasn't the Logan she knew. How selfish was that, feeling uncomfortable at the sight of him on his feet, just because it was strange to her? Yet it reminded her that he lived whole other lives she knew nothing about, and strengthened her belief that the end of their relationship had been inevitable.   
  
She looked up to see Lydecker watching her. He reminded her of Max -- intense, single-minded, smart, not easy to evade or deceive. To her surprise he said, "So you are a hospital chaplain."  
  
"Yes," she answered cautiously.  
  
"Good for you. I don't believe in God myself."  
  
"You don't seem to mind playing him," Grace shot back without thinking. She regretted it the moment she saw his eyebrows go up in exaggerated surprise. "That sounds like something Max would say."  
  
"I wouldn't know."  
  
"Wouldn't you? Never mind. May I ask where you were ordained?"  
  
"I'm not ordained."  
  
"No? Why not?"  
  
What is it with these people? Grace thought. They had an uncanny ability to zero right in on touchy personal subjects. "I'm old enough to remember the separation of church and state," she replied. "I'm not interested in working for the military government."  
  
"Fair enough," he answered. He seemed to have lost interest in the subject. There was a pause. Somehow Grace didn't think he was searching for a lighter conversational topic; this was strategic. Sure enough, he went on, "My men reported that there were actually two women on the run last night. I haven't yet shared that information with anyone but you."  
  
"Really."  
  
He began to pace. "There's something you're not telling him, isn't there?"  
  
Grace shrugged. "We just split up. There are a lot of things I'm not telling him."   
  
"I think you're hiding something," he said, watching her closely.  
  
"So are you. Why haven't you told him about the other woman?"  
  
He stopped, folded his arms. "Until two weeks ago I had a contact inside what's left of Manticore. Young man named Victor. The father of Jace's child. It was strictly quid pro quo. He was desperate for news of his little family, I needed to keep an eye on some ... former colleagues. The last thing I heard from him was a rumor of a disturbance and an escape of a very important prisoner. Based on certain details, I have reason to believe that prisoner may have been Max."  
  
"Max is dead."  
  
"Max was dead, or as good as dead, the last time I saw her. But we left her there. Our pursuers were at our heels. It's not beyond the capabilities of Manticore to have saved her, if they acted quickly enough."  
  
"Did you tell Logan that?"  
  
"Yes I did. I belive I have his attention now."  
  
I bet, Grace thought. "So you want him to help you find her?"  
  
"Yes. The question is, do you? Is that what you want?"   
  
Grace didn't answer. What was this about? If he suspected her of knowing where Max was, why didn't he just come out and say so? She knew he had worked with Max and her siblings the night of the Manticore raid, but that didn't account for the last seven months. In his circumstances, who knew what kind of bargains he had been forced to make in order to survive? There was no way she would trust him without knowing more.  
  
"There's one more thing you may be interested to know. My men described two nurses, one a black woman and the other a white woman, about thirty, light brown hair. Funny, isn't it? That could be you, couldn't it?"   
  
Before she could reply Logan returned, accompanied by a tall young man whom Grace recognized immediately as the person who had followed her home on the bus weeks earlier. Lydecker changed the subject as smoothly as if they had been discussing nothing more consequential than the weather. "This is Krit, one of Max's brothers. He's been assisting me."  
  
"He's been following me," Grace said.  
  
"Very observant of you. I should probably also tell you that he searched your apartment as well."  
  
"Sorry," Krit said to her, then turned to Lydecker. "Can we talk? Syl reported in. It's important.   
  
"One moment," Lydecker said. He turned to Grace and Logan. "I have a proposition for the two of you. Your little breakup has probably attracted the attention of Manticore. If my information is correct, they'll be looking for Max to return here any time now that her options have opened back up again. We need to convince them that there's nothing to see here. Get them to back off. As it stands right now, Max and Jace can't talk to us and we can't talk to them. They're at risk. We're all at risk. Even tonight is a risk."  
  
After a moment Logan said calmly, "So what's your proposition? How do we get them to back off?"  
  
Lydecker watched them. "Reunite. Give no sign that Max is anything to the two of you but dead." When no one answered, he went on: "Sooner or later Manticore will become bored. That will give my team an opportunity to divert their attention elsewhere. We'll continue our search, of course. But our goal is to make it safe for Max and Jace to come in from hiding."  
  
Logan said, "Could you excuse us for a few moments?"  
  
"Certainly." He turned to Krit and the low sound of their voices faded as they moved away from the light into a far corner of the warehouse, leaving Logan and Grace alone.   
  
Grace broke the silence. "How long has he been around?"  
  
"He contacted me a few weeks ago. An informant got word to him that Jace was headed back north. Wanted me to look for her."  
  
"Not to mention his other news." She looked up at Logan -- looked up at him, what an odd feeling -- to measure his reaction.  
  
He met her eyes steadily. "Right. That too."  
  
Grace began to pace as Lydecker had done. "How long has he been watching us?"  
  
"I don't know. I did ask him to leave you alone. Told him you were now a private citizen."  
  
"Thanks," Grace said. "Do you have any idea what he's been doing since the raid?"  
  
"No."  
  
"Do you trust him?"  
  
"Not entirely, no."  
  
"Then why should we agree to do this?"  
  
"Syl and Krit are working with him. That counts for something. And I think he knows more than he's telling. If we play along, we buy some time."  
  
"Unless he screws you first."  
  
"I'll take that chance. It's all the hope I've got." She must have looked hurt, because he quickly added, "Of finding out the truth, I mean."  
  
Footsteps sounded from the front of the warehouse and Lydecker approached them. "My apologies for the urgency, but I must go now. I'm afraid I'll need your answer immediately." Like Max, he seemed to assume that he had the unquestioned right to take charge under any and all circumstances. That irritated Grace. But she had made up her mind already. Her instincts had been correct. Already Logan's love for Max was clouding his judgment, tempting him to trust Lydecker too quickly. They had no way to know what Lydecker's true purposes might be, or his real reasons for wanting to find Max.  
  
But Logan was right that playing along with Lydecker would buy some time, Grace thought, more right than he knew. She would agree to this. Later, if Lydecker proved trustworthy, she could tell the whole truth. For now, however, this was enough. Hoping she wasn't about to make a colossal mistake, she turned to Logan. "I'm game if you are."  
  
Logan turned to Lydecker. "Consider it done."  
  
Lydecker nodded in satisfaction. "Good night. I will be in touch when there is news." He turned on his heel and walked into the darkness. When he was gone Logan said, "I have the car. I'll drive you home."  
  
In the car it was just the two of them and an awkward silence. At first Grace was too tired to care, but after a while she realized that they would have to come to some kind of understanding, or it was going to be a very long mission. When they were stopped at a long checkpoint traffic jam, she began:  
  
"So --"  
  
And at the same moment Logan glanced over at her and said, "So --"  
  
They laughed. But then Logan said, "Grace, I'm having second thoughts."  
  
She was surprised. "Why? I thought you were willing to trust him."  
  
"It's not that."  
  
"What is it?"  
  
"Look, I have no right --"  
  
Oh no, Grace thought, here we go with the guilt thing. "-- to ask me to get involved," she went on.  
  
He frowned. "I mean, after everything -- "  
  
"--you've put me through in the last few months," she finished for him.  
  
He looked hurt. "Well ... yes."   
  
She smiled. "Logan -- don't start apologizing to me again. You know what it did to me the last time." She couldn't get over herself, calm and smiling on the outside yet completely freaking out on the inside. What a good little soldier. It almost made her wish Max could see her now. "I'm doing this strictly on a volunteer basis. So take the weight of the world off your shoulders for a couple of days, okay?" Let that be my job for a little while, she thought. She wondered whether Max and Jace had crossed into Canada yet. And how little Max was doing.  
  
Logan glanced around at the traffic, tapped his fingers impatiently on the steering wheel. "It's gonna take forever to get you back across town. Should we start this tonight? Would you stay at my place?"  
  
"Only if I get the couch."  
  
"We'll have to figure out something better than that --"  
  
"Don't worry about it tonight. Your couch is a lot more comfortable than my old bed."  
  
Logan made a u-turn out of the checkpoint line and headed down a side street, towards his sector of town. When they stopped at the next light he said, "You know what, Grace?"  
  
"What?"  
  
"Every day I wonder how I was lucky enough to meet two such great women and unlucky to end up with neither of them."  
  
In spite of everything, Grace laughed. "Isn't that what we're trying to prevent?"  
  
He smiled. After that it wasn't nearly as hard to go back to his apartment as she had thought it would be. But later that night, when she was fairly sure he was asleep, she cried quietly for a long time.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



	5. Chapter 5

After that, Grace decided she was done with crying for a while. For once, no one was holding a gun to her head. Literally or otherwise. And with each passing day the chances of Max and Jace making it to safety grew greater.   
  
Besides, the "reunion" wasn't nearly as weird and masochistic as Grace had thought it might be. She and Logan had started out as friends and it wasn't so hard, after all, to go back there. She had missed him, and it was comforting to share the waiting with someone else. They continued to live their own lives, but they also ate together and went out together and did whatever they could to create the illusion of a romance, short of actually having one. In time Grace even grew used to the sight of Logan occasionally standing and walking, on those nights when a call from Lydecker sent him off on one investigation or another.   
  
Grace did not speak to Lydecker again, nor did she ask Logan many questions. She preferred not to create opportunities for questions she didn't plan to answer or conversations she didn't want to have. To her relief, after she told Logan that no one at the hospital seemed to know anything about kidnapped nurses, the subject of that night never came up again.  
  
For a long time, it seemed that the most dangerous aspect of life was her pleasure in sharing Logan's company again. Don't get comfortable, she told herself. Lydecker means business. He will return, and when he does, this party will probably be over.   
  
And he did return. One night he asked Logan to bring Grace to the waterfront again. The location was different, but again Bling and Max's brother kept watch while the three of them met. Grace saw immediately that Lydecker had important news. He was eager, even impatient. When they had concealed themselves in a shadowy corner, he said immediately to Logan, "This is it. Can you move out tonight?"  
  
"Yes," Logan replied without hesitation. Silently Grace sighed. How could such a smart guy be so uncritical sometimes? Move out? Where? Why? Of course she knew nothing of what had taken place since the night she had first met Lydecker; maybe this was all perfectly clear to Logan. Still, she decided to ask. "Move out where?"  
  
"It's better if you don't know," Lydecker told her. "We'll be gone for some time. Your assignment is to maintain the illusion that Logan is right where he should be."  
  
"Bling will be there, of course," Logan said, "but you're welcome to come and go as you please." He seemed to have caught Lydecker's excitement. His attention was now far from his immediate surroundings. It's Max, Grace realized. They believe they're going to find Max. It was the only thing that could have made both men come so alive. They were going off to rescue Max while she held down the fort. That was, if Max wanted to be rescued ...   
  
"Get yourself ready and meet me back here," Lydecker was saying to Logan.  
  
"I'm all set," Logan told him.   
  
"Great. We leave in five, then."  
  
"I'll get my things." Did "things" mean "guns," Grace wondered. Logan turned to her. "Take care," he said quietly.   
  
"You too, please."  
  
He looked straight into her eyes. "Grace. Thank you." To her relief he didn't try to say more, just held that look until she smiled a little and said, "Good luck." Then he turned away and left the warehouse. From the shadows behind her Lydecker said:  
  
"He's not for you. He's in love with her. Always has been."  
  
"No kidding," said Grace, irritated, which immediately chased away any desire she might have had to cry over this one last time. Lydecker merely gestured towards the open door and asked:  
  
"Shall we?"   
  
As they walked out, Grace wondered, Where is Max? What will come of this? Should she have tried to take Logan aside, tell him everything? But it was too late now. Events were moving out of her hands, and into Max's hands. It was up to Max now to vanish or be found.  
  
-----------------------------------  
  
THAT NIGHT: MAX'S DREAM  
  
She wakes in the night crying, lying down someplace hard. Where is she? The hospital? The barracks? The ground? She doesn't know why she is so sad, only that she can't stop crying. She's calling Logan. A hand touches her shoulder, and a soothing voice says, Boo, what's wrong with you? Don't cry, now.   
  
Cindy! She's so relieved she opens her eyes and sits up.   
  
She's home, oh thank God, she's home, and there's Cindy, rubbing her back and looking at her with concern. What a nightmare, she tells Cindy, describing the explosions and the gunshots and the pain and being separated from Logan. All she wants to do is grab a cup of coffee and head out to work. She's probably late and Normal's probably really pissed. She looks around for clean clothes.  
  
Cindy listens sympathetically and then says, I hate to tell you, but you got something else you need to do first. Pulling the curtain aside, Cindy points out to the living room, where Zack and Tinga and Ben sit. They've been here for weeks, Cindy says. I can't keep feeding them. Especially not when they bring the kids. She looks again and there are Charlie and Jace, watching Case and baby Max and Eva play.   
  
What are they doing here? she asks, confused.  
  
Cindy frowns. What do you mean? That's your family, sugar. They've been waiting for you.  
  
I forgot, she says, horrified. Oh, Cindy, I'm sorry.  
  
You got nothing to apologize for, boo. You been busy.   
  
I'll take care of them, I promise.   
  
Then she remembers something else. Oh no, she says. I was going to Logan's tonight.   
  
Cindy looks surprised. You were? she says. After what he did to you?  
  
What?  
  
Like I been saying. Boys cheat. He's a boy just like the rest.  
  
Now it all comes back, in an ugly rush of jealousy. Furious, she cries and throws the bed pillows at the wall. She's so angry she doesn't dare throw anything else. It would probably break right through the wall and land on some innocent passer-by outside. Cindy watches.  
  
I hate her! she shouts.  
  
Sugar, you just say the word and I'll smack her down so hard --  
  
No, don't!  
  
Why not?  
  
She opens the curtain again. They're all still there. I can't have dinner with him tonight, she tells Cindy miserably. I'm needed here. But I don't want him to be alone.   
  
I'm not even trying to hear that, Cindy says scornfully.  
  
You don't understand. She's a good person, she says, beginning to cry again. I just hate her, that's all.  
  
She pulls the curtain aside and walks into the other room.  
  
  
-----------------------------------  
  
THAT NIGHT: GRACE'S DREAM  
  
She is back in Logan's apartment, at the party that happened ... when? The night Max returned? She can hear the festivities in other rooms, the music and voices, but this time she is not with the guests. She is alone in the hallway, standing before a mirror. She looks at herself and sees that her dirty sweater and jeans are gone, replaced by a blue gown, simple, elegant. Her hair is up. She's wearing makeup. Jewelry. She's never seen herself like this before. As she gazes at herself she realizes that a man has come up behind her. In the mirror she sees Colonel Lydecker, in military clothing and a clerical collar.   
  
Come with me, he orders, and she turns away from the mirror to follow him down the hall. At the end of the hall is a closed door she has never seen before. He opens it, and when she steps inside she sees nothing but bare cement walls, a single chair, and a bright light. He takes the chair and says, Soldier, account for your actions.  
  
I don't understand, she says.  
  
No, you don't, do you? Then let me begin. First, you slept with him. You broke your vow.  
  
I never took vows. You know that, she whispers. Still, she feels guilty.  
  
Two. You broke your professional code. You took advantage of his weakness and his need, to indulge your own pleasure. You cared nothing for his welfare.  
  
It was too soon, she admits. But I did care for his welfare. I thought it would be good for him.  
  
That is not your decision! Your mission is not to think!   
  
She feels tears begin to run down her face.  
  
Three. You forgot your mission. Your mission was to return Max to base. You abandoned her in the field because you feared her. Because you wanted him for yourself.   
  
The injustice of that final accusation infuriates her. Come see how I completed my mission! she shouts, opening the door and running down the hallway towards the party.   
  
She stops at the edge of the room where no one can see her. Once again the guests have gathered, and once again the man with the crystal wineglass stands in front of the room. He picks up a bottle of wine from the table, reads the label, and holds the bottle out smiling. Pre-Pulse, he says. You've saved the best for last. A murmur of laughter and a little applause runs through the group. Then people shift and she can see Max and Logan standing at the front of the room, holding hands. Max is laughing the way she laughed the night the baby was born, all care and fear gone from her face. Logan looks nowhere else but at her.   
  
She turns to Lydecker beside her and says, Here's what I did for him. Now you tell me what you have you done for her.  
  
That is not for you to know, he says coldly.   
  
You're the one who indulges your own pleasure. You want her for yourself.   
  
I made her, he says. Who are you to question me?  
  
A woman at the rear of the crowd turns around. Shhh, she frowns. It's time for the toast.  
  
The man with the wineglass raises it in the air. My friends, he begins.   
  
Silently, she and Lydecker watch Max and Logan embrace.  
  
  
--------------------------------------------------  
  
THAT NIGHT: LOGAN'S DREAM  
  
It is a gray, cloudy, cold day. He sits in his wheelchair before an enormous outdoor fountain with a statue of an angel on top. There is no water in the fountain, only dead brown leaves. The trees are bare. He is alone. He recognizes this place. He came here as a child with his parents, before the Pulse. It's so cold. He holds his hands up to his face to warm them with his breath and when he lowers them, he's back in his owm apartment, looking at his watch.  
  
He is late for an Eyes Only broadcast. He removes his glasses, turns on the camera, but instead of his own eyes appearing on the monitor, he sees Uncle Jonas there. Hello, Junior, it's been a while, Jonas says genially. Still working on your little bohemian projects?   
  
Where are you? he asks.  
  
Why Junior, I'm surprised you care. You've never wanted to be where I am before.  
  
He turns away from the eerie image in the monitor and sees two women sitting at his table. It's Max, in the red dress she wore to Bennett's wedding, and Grace, in a blue gown the color of the sky. They are eating and drinking together. There is wine. They are laughing. He moves to join them, but a hand on his arm holds him back. He looks up to see his father standing next to him, watching Grace and Max. Pretty girls, his father says.  
  
More than pretty. More than girls, he says.  
  
Agreed. But son, is that all you can think of to do when they're here -- cook?  
  
He makes an impatient noise and turns the chair away, rolls out the door. It opens onto a road at the foot of a mountain. Through the trees he catches glimpses of the snow-covered peak. Max is waiting for him there. He begins to roll along the road, but it's hard, very hard. His arms feel rubbery and weak, and some force puts up a great resistance to his wheels. Sometimes he doesn't move at all, sometimes he rolls back a little bit. His hands are dirty and dusty and blistered. One begins to bleed.   
  
He wipes the blood on his leg and when he looks up Grace is standing there in the road. Max is waiting for me at the top. She got gas and sector passes, he tells Grace. She says nothing. He is beginning to panic because he is very late. Half of me is gone, he says, trying to explain why he hasn't made progress. But Grace smiles. I know, she answers sympathetically, taking his bleeding hand in hers, and suddenly he is high up on the mountain, on a ledge of rock, alone. In front of him is empty space. He feels sick and dizzy and frightened, up so high and so close to the edge.   
  
Then, across the chasm, he sees a cabin, and he knows that Max is there. But he has no way to there from here. He dares not move the chair even an inch for fear of rolling right off the edge. There is a sound beside him and Zack is leaning against a rock, smirking.  
  
What's the problem? Zack says.  
  
I'm afraid of heights, he admits.  
  
You could try praying, Zack says.  
  
Maybe you haven't noticed. I'm having a little trouble getting down on my knees these days.  
  
Just cross over. Ask that girlfriend of yours to get your back on it if you're scared.  
  
You'd love to roll me off Mount Rainier, wouldn't you?  
  
Zack laughs.   
  
He looks again and sees what he didn't see before, a bridge over the chasm to where the cabin stands. Not daring to look down, he crosses the bridge and stops in front of the cabin. Porch steps. For him, they might as well be a chasm. His heart sinks.  
  
Zack sits jauntily on the railing of the porch. Not bad, he says. But why are you looking for her here, with me? She's not here. She's gone.   
  
He must find her. He rolls away and catches his breath. Behind the cabin is the fountain. It is now filled with water, clear blue splashing water. He lifts his eyes to the angel and as he does so hands touch his shoulders, a woman's hands. He smiles, closes his eyes, and leans back on her.   
  
He can hear her heart beating.  
  
THE END???  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



	6. Epilogue

A/N: Thanks SO much to all of you for your time, comments, and praise! This has been a lot of fun.  
  
Back in June when I first thought of Grace, I planned to tell the story of Max and Logan's reunion as well. But summer went by too quickly, and now it's less than three weeks before Season 2. After seeing the promos I've decided to stop here and leave the reunion in the far more qualified hands of the DA writers and cast.   
  
Instead, here's a little farewell to Grace (for now). I hope that as Season 2 gets rolling there will be plenty of "space between" this year's events to bring her back now and then as a friend to our friends. (Besides, I want to try writing some non-Grace stories.)  
  
Thanks again!  
  
-----------------------------------------  
  
  
Jake, the young first-floor admin, looked up as Grace stepped out of the elevator.  
  
"Hey, Gracie. Uck, what's that stench? You smell that?"  
  
"Yup."  
  
"Oh, man! It's putrid! What the frig is it?"  
  
"It's me," Grace said, passing by the admin desk with a grim smile. A drunk had vomited all over her. She was heading directly for the ladies' room, clutching a set of scrubs, a garbage bag, and a big bottle of the disinfectant they used in the operating suites.   
  
"Jesus!" Jake waved a hand in front of his face. "You got company in your office. You might wanna clean up first."  
  
"Who is it?"  
  
In spite of his disgust, Jake smirked at Grace. "It's a guy. And not one who works here."  
  
Grace's heart stopped cold for a moment. It couldn't be .... then she realized Jake was still talking. "Black dude, good looking. Says he's an old friend." Grace's heart resumed beating with a painful thud. "He's dressed nice, so you might wanna --"  
  
"I get it," Grace snapped, hoping to duck into the staff bathroom unseen, but it was too late. To her dismay Bling stepped out of her office, smiling. "Hello, Grace," he said warmly. Flustered, Grace backed away, holding up both hands. "Don't -- " she began.  
  
Bling immediately stopped smiling, though he didn't look angry. "Maybe I better come back another time," he said.   
  
"I'm kind of a mess -- "   
  
"No problem. Just stopped by to say hi. Another time." He turned away and Grace felt a wave of relief, followed by a second wave of pure panic. She was afraid to talk to Bling, and she was even more afraid to let him walk away like that, her last link to Logan and everything that had happened last year. It felt like being abandoned. Impulsively she called out, "Hey, sorry! Don't go!"  
  
Bling immediately turned back. "You sure? It's no big deal."  
  
"Yeah." Grace indicated her ruined clothes. "Just give me a couple of minutes, okay?"  
  
Her hands shook as she locked the bathroom door and stripped off her sodden clothing, dumping it in the garbage bag with a big splash of disinfectant. There had been no contact at all between her and Logan's world for nearly two months now. Not since the night Bling had told her she was free to go, that it was no longer necessary for her to help maintain the illusion that Logan was in Seattle. She hadn't asked any questions. And since then, not a word from any of them -- Logan, Max, Lydecker, even Bling -- until today.   
  
She looked at herself in the mirror. She looked upset, scared, suspicious. And that was exactly how she felt. What did Bling want? She splashed water on her face, scrubbed her arms and hands, talking to her reflection. "Okay, he can't be dead or anything like that, or Bling would have made a bigger deal out of this. But he's not looking to tell me what a huge mistake he made, letting me go. Same reason, right? Maybe Bling wants exactly what he said he wants, just to know how I am. So how am I? Oh, I don't know. Ugh!" Torn between dread and anticipation, she knotted the garbage bag and after a deep breath, unlocked the door.  
  
"Sorry," she apologized again as Bling leaned over to kiss her cheek. "Crazy day."   
  
"You don't have to tell me. I work around this place once in a while, remember?"   
  
"Right. So. Do you have a few minutes? Want to sit down somewhere? Are you hungry?" She knew she was chattering, but she was horribly nervous and couldn't help herself. As always, though, Bling tactfully pretended to ignore the obvious.  
  
"Tell you what. Let's go get a cup of that delicious cafeteria coffee and sit down somewhere." He looked over his shoulder. "Somewhere we can talk for a few minutes."  
  
"Do you mind the cold?"  
  
"Doesn't bother me."  
  
Grace dumped the garbage bag in her office, threw on her coat over the thin blue scrubs, and took him to the courtyard, where she had not been since the days with Logan. Now, in winter, the trees were bare and brown, and the ground was covered with last week's hard, dirty snow. But the brick path and Grace's favorite bench had been cleared, and the wind chimes in the tree above rang gently in the cold air. They huddled over their cardboard coffee cups, breathing in the steam.  
  
"It's good to see you, Grace. How are you?"  
  
Grace opened her mouth to say something funny, couldn't think of anything, then reluctantly settled for the truth. "Look, how I am right now is dying of curiosity. I don't want a lot of details, I just want to know what happened -- I mean, did they --" She stopped. The words wouldn't come out.  
  
"Fair enough. Headlines only?"  
  
Grace nodded.  
  
"Let's just say they've crossed paths again. Wasn't quite the way Logan thought it was going to be, but it happened."   
  
"Okay." In spite of herself, she was stunned. After all that, Max had let herself be found? For a moment she was angry, then she stopped herself. This was none of her business now. What did she care? "And? Is there a happy ending?" she asked carelessly.  
  
"Too soon to tell. Things are a little ... complicated."   
  
Complicated. Same word Max had used. I don't even want to know what this is about, Grace realized. "Too bad," she said shortly. "Anything else?"  
  
"Nope. Not unless you want to hear it all."  
  
Grace stuck her fingers in her ears. "I can't hear you, I can't hear you," she chanted like a little girl, and Bling laughed.  
  
"Understood. Besides, I wouldn't put all that on you. I didn't come to talk about Logan. I came to talk about you."   
  
"Sure. Wanna hear about my hot new boyfriend? My fabulous luxury cruise to Mexico?" She meant to be flippant, but the words came out sharper than she had intended. And just saying the word 'Mexico' out loud gave her a chill.  
  
Bling frowned. "Very funny. Now I want a straight answer. How you doing?"  
  
Grace gave up. "Oh, I don't know," she admitted. "I wish I did have something to brag about, but the truth is, I've just gone on living my life. I'm still trying to process everything that happened, and I don't have any brilliant ideas for what's next. Boring, huh? But that's me for you."  
  
"You're not boring. But maybe you're a little bored."  
  
"You mean without Logan? He's a great guy, but --"  
  
"That's not what I meant." Bling settled himself more comfortably on the bench. "Look, Grace, one of the reasons I came by today was to tell you I know you saw Max and helped her out."  
  
"You what?"  
  
"She told me all about it."  
  
"Are you serious? Did she tell --"  
  
"I don't think so." He glanced around, lowered his voice. "Her sister is fine, by the way."  
  
"Good," said Grace faintly.  
  
"You did a good thing that night, Grace. And afterwards too."  
  
"That's me. Good Deeds R Us."  
  
Smiling, Bling shook his head. "Now I know you've been hanging with Max. You're turning into Wisecracks R Us. Can we get serious for a minute? I want to ask you something."  
  
"Go ahead."  
  
Bling leaned forward. "Do you believe in destiny?"  
  
Grace was startled. "That's a serious subject, all right."  
  
"Do you?"  
  
"No." Grace was definite. "I wouldn't last a day here if I believed that God had all these folks destined for suffering. Or, to bring it closer to home, I'd never tell Logan that he was destined to end up in a wheelchair. That's obscene. It wasn't written in the stars. He was shot by a person who made a deliberate choice to do something evil."  
  
Bling nodded thoughtfully. "What about the good kind?"  
  
"The good kind of what?"  
  
"Destiny. Being in the right place at the right time."  
  
"That's not fair, is it? I'll take the good kind of destiny, but pretend the bad kind doesn't exist? That's cheating."  
  
"Maybe." Bling hesitated. "But here at the hospital, you must have seen some things that aren't so easy to explain. There must have been times you thought some power was moving events. A good power."  
  
Grace sighed. "Sure, but ..." She shrugged. She wasn't really in the mood for mysticism. "Why?"  
  
"Mind if I talk about myself for a minute?"  
  
Grace nodded.  
  
"Grace, you and me, in a lot of ways we're coming from the same place. We didn't know Logan back when, in his old life. That's only a story to us. We met a guy who needed help, gave him that help. That's all it was at the start.  
  
"I remember when I first got the job with him. To me, it looked like a damned good gig. Rich guy, nice apartment, no family hanging around expecting me to be a housekeeper or a masseur or any of that nonsense. Just a nice, quiet, steady job."   
  
He smiled at Grace. "But you know how it is. He's got a way of making you care about him. As he got better, got back to work, one way and another I got involved. At first it was just knowing how to dump all of his computer files in an emergency. Later, it was a lot more.   
  
"And you know what? I really started digging it, Grace. I still do pt work to earn money, but what I do for Logan -- I wouldn't give it up for anything. Not now."  
  
"What's that got to do with destiny?"  
  
At first she thought he had changed the subject again. "After the Pulse, I set aside thinking about the bigger picture, you know? The meaning of life and finding myself and all that. I just wanted to keep a roof over my head until the world settled down a little bit.  
  
"Now I see the world ain't gonna settle down any time soon. And I'm starting to think that maybe this stuff that we've gotten ourselves involved in -- maybe he's right about that. Maybe this is our big picture, right here, right now. Today.   
  
"Maybe I'm being offered a chance to be a part of that. And you know what? I'm thinking, I'm gonna take it." He leaned back on the bench, watching Grace.   
  
"Destiny," she said after a moment.  
  
"Maybe so," he agreed.  
  
She nodded. "And you're thinking maybe ... destiny is making me an offer too?"  
  
He smiled. "Admit it. It wasn't all bad, that night with Max. She told me you handled yourself pretty good."  
  
"I'm honored."  
  
At that, he laughed out loud. "Oh, I wish I'd been a fly on the wall that night." Then, growing serious, he added, "So you'd be just as satisfied if you never heard from any of us again?"  
  
"Well ... "  
  
"Yes?"  
  
"I'd think a lot more of your theory if it weren't for the, uh, personal issues involved. But if you think I want to go back there, you're mistaken."  
  
"Agreed. Now is not the time. But one of these days ... who knows?"  
  
Grace didn't answer. She couldn't. He was right. Part of her had loved the adventure. But there was no way she was ready for more, not right now. If she could have torn her feelings for Logan right out of her heart, maybe ... but she still hadn't quite figured out a way to do that. Finally, unconvinced, she said, "I don't know. I think my work here is done, you know?"  
  
He didn't push it. "Something to think about. Will you do that?"  
  
"Sure," Grace smiled. He'd been good to her. She'd put that thought away for a while and take it out again some sunny day when she hadn't seen any of them for a long time.  
  
He looked at his watch. "All right. I'd better run."   
  
Together they walked down the brick path and through the doors into the hot, noisy hospital corridor. He gave her a hug. "You take care, okay? And I'm not going to say goodbye. Just, until we meet again."  
  
She breathed on her cold hands. "You sound pretty sure about that."  
  
Over Bling's shoulder, she saw Jake waving at her. "Hey Grace, where ya been? Fifth floor's looking for you. They wanted you up there ten minutes ago."  
  
"I have to go," she said apologetically, signaling Jake that she'd heard him.  
  
"See you," Bling said quietly, and before she reached the elevator doors, he was gone.   
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



End file.
